Molding of Reflection and Scattering from Uniform Walls Using Space-Periodic Metasurfaces

Abstract: Active development is taking place in reconfigurable and static metasurfaces that control and optimize reflections. However, existing designs typically only optimize reflections from the metasurface panels, neglecting interference with reflections originating from supporting walls and nearby objects in realistic scenarios. Moreover, when the area illuminated by the transmitting antenna is larger than the metasurface panel, the total scattering pattern deviates significantly from the metasurface panel's reflection pattern. In this study, we investigate how engineering the metasurface properties can modify the total scattering pattern, enabling the modification and optimization of reflections from significantly larger illuminated areas than the metasurface panel. To accomplish this, a general design approach is developed to create periodical metasurfaces with controlled reflection phase and amplitude for arbitrary Floquet channels. By combining these reflections with those from the surrounding walls, the total scattering can be manipulated to produce desired scattering properties. The study demonstrates how appropriately designed metasurfaces can modify reflections from surrounding walls, enhancing the functionalities of metasurfaces. These findings are intended to facilitate advancements in engineering and optimizing wave propagation channels, particularly for millimeter-wave communications.